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Although I have been enjoying the pumpkins and winter squash a lot lately, I was ready for a bit of a change and that got me to thinking about other fall produce that I enjoy. Pears are one that I have regularly but I rarely seem to use them in recipes and now was the perfect opportunity to do so! I still needed something for breakfasts for the week and that reminded me of the pear and gorgonzola omelette that I had enjoyed so much last year and I recalled thinking that it would also be nice in quiche form at the time. I simply could not resist the idea of using one of my favourite flavour combinations, pear and gorgonzola, so I had my breakfast idea, a pear and gorgonzola quiche.

I figured it would not be all that fun to be biting into your light and fluffy quiche only to hit a rock hard piece of pear so I wanted to cook the pear a bit before putting it into the quiche. There are a few ways to do this and although poaching the pears crossed my mind I went with a simpler solution and I just sauteed the pear in some butter and brown sugar until tender. The sweetness added by caramelizing the pears like this goes surprisingly well with the pear and tangly gorgonzola combo in eggs. Next up, I wanted something salty to balance things out and diced pancetta sounded like they would do the trick nicely. I also wanted to work a nut into the quiche somehow but I did not like the sound of biting into nuts in a quiche so I decided to replace some of the flour in my my all butter crust with ground walnuts.

The caramelized pear and gorgonzola quiche turned out amazingly well! The pear and gorgonzola flavour combo proved once again why it is a classic and it worked really well in a quiche. Caramelizing the pears first added a nice hint of sweetness that was balanced by the salty pancetta. Most of all, I really enjoyed the way that the ground walnuts worked in the butter pastry crust and I will definitely have to remember to try adding nuts to future pie crusts like this.

Caramelized Pear and Gorgonzola Quiche

Servings: 6

ingredients

1/4 cup pancetta or bacon, diced

1 large shallot, diced

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon brown sugar

2 pears, cored and sliced into bite sized pieces

4 eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup half and half

1/2 teaspoon thyme

1/2 cup gorgonzola or other blue cheese, crumbled

1 pre-baked walnut butter pie crust (see below)

directions

Cook the pancetta and shallot in a pan.

Add the butter and let it melt.

Add the sugar and cook until bubbly, about 3 minutes.

Add the pear and saute until tender, about 3-5 minutes.

Mix the pears, eggs, half and half, thyme and gorgonzola and pour it into the pre-baked pie crust.

Bake in a preheated 375F/190C oven until golden brown on top and set in the center, about 25-45 minutes.

I love that you cooked the pear a bit first. I have had too many unhappy surprises with pears that turned out to be not quite ripe. That said, you are making me rethink my efforts to lose the blogger pounds I have gained because I want the quiche.

Carole: The pear and gorgonzola combo works well with the sweetness of the pears balancing the tang of the gorgonzola. If you are not the biggest fan of blue cheeses you can easily cut back on the amount of the gorgonzola.

Distilled: Half and half is supposed to be a mix of cream and milk. It has about 10% fat vs the 35% of cream. I have made quiches with cream, half and half and even milk and they all work well. I guess it just depends on how decadent you want to be. :)

This quiche looks and sounds incredible- I'm having a slew of guests over next weekend for brunch and would love to make it. How would you suggest doing so ahead of time, making use of my freezer in the meanwhile?Thanks!

I want to make this for a brunch I'm hosting with a rather large guest list. I want to get a jumpstart and make it the night before - when in the process should I freeze it, and how should I reheat it?Thanks, looks great!

Anonymous: I have not tried freezing a quiche before but I have heard that you can freeze them either before or after baking. I would suggest freezing it in the pan just before baking and then either thawing it in the fridge or putting it in the oven frozen and allowing for an extra 10-20 minutes of baking time.

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Walnuts in a Pate Brisee? Quiche in a spring-form? Brilliant and inspired! This was so, so good and I'll definitely make it again and again and again. Had to use tempeh bacon in place of panchetta but it was really good none the less!

Made this for dinner tonight. Love the sweet, salty ingredients and the unique combo of flavors. My crust shrunk a bit, so I baked leftover filling mixture in a ramekin and had an extra crustless quiche :) Thanks for the great recipe.

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About Me

I came to realize that my meals were boring and that I had been eating the same few dishes over and over again for years. It was time for a change! I now spend my free time searching for, creating and trying tasty new recipes in my closet sized kitchen.